We knew this day would come. We’ve just been waiting for the bad news. Four cases of the Zika virus have popped up in Florida that appear to have been locally transmitted. These are the first cases of local transmission of the virus in the U.S. Officials have now announced that the Zika virus has crossed the border and now our own mosquitos are spreading it. While they haven’t caught any infected mosquitos, officials believe that Aedes aegypti mosquitos within a four-block area North of Miami are to blame.

With this bad news Florida officials decided to step up their efforts to control the local mosquito population and contain the threat. They are now going door-to-door checking if people have any containers of standing water around their houses. They also have trucks and people on foot spraying insecticide at every citizen’s home. Despite this recent discovery of locally transmitted Zika virus cases, many officials still don’t believe the virus will spread throughout the country. They claim that widespread transmission in the U.S. is still very unlikely. I’d still be wearing insect repellent 24/7, though, if I were you.

Do you think the Zika virus could spread throughout the U.S. and how long do you think it will take?